


The Wires{Got The Best of Him}

by Sarcasticray (orphan_account)



Category: The RageGaming Crew
Genre: Blood and Injury, Graphic Depictions of Illness, Implied/Referenced Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-30
Updated: 2016-05-26
Packaged: 2018-05-17 03:41:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 7,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5852653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Sarcasticray
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'This just in, the lab responsible for experiment on humans has been shut down.'<br/>'If you have found a missing loved one that was suspected to have been located at the lab, we ask you bring them back to the local police. Scientists have suspicions that the lab may have done something to them.'<br/>'Please do not go looking for your loved ones. Stay inside your homes. If you exhibit any of the following symptoms: The white of your eyes turning any color, coughing up blood, skin breakage on the arms and back, or nails turning black, call 991 immediately.'</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sick

**Author's Note:**

> remember kids, this is not for the squeamish.

_This just in, the lab responsible for experiment on humans has been shut down. We haven't received any information on what exactly they were doing there, however police say that if any of your loved ones have gone missing in the past 6 months, they were most likely located there. Please visit the local police department for more information._ That was the first report. Josh was one of the people who went missing. Less than a week later, another report was broadcasted throughout the entire country.

_If you have found a missing loved one that was suspected to have been located at the lab, we ask you bring them back to the local police. Scientists have suspicions that the lab may have done something to them, and they need to be examined. We thank you for your cooperation._ And just like that, Josh was gone again. They didn't notice anything really wrong with him, but better safe than sorry. The country was on the edge of it's seat. So many people had been taken. There were even rumors flying around that the lab wasn't really shut down.

_Please do not go looking for your loved ones. We haven't identified what the lab put in them, or how to remove it. They are in government custody until we do identify it. Stay inside your homes. We do not know if what was injected into them was contagious. If you exhibit any of the following symptoms: The white of your eyes turning any color, coughing up blood, skin breakage on the arms and back, or nails turning black, call 991 immediately._ People were scared. The government was giving them next to no information. Almost everyday you could hear police sirens. They were taking people away. Other countries weren't allowed to interfere. Britain closed it's borders. Aaron knew that he had it too. He had the least deadly of all the symptoms. His nails had turned black a long time ago.

It was easy to hide them. In a way, he was lucky. If he wore gloves all the time, no one would know. But the loneliness was eating away at him. He had no way of knowing what happened to his friends. Or Josh, for that matter. He was one of the first to be taken. Aaron had to know what happened to him. That's why he had his phone in his hand, dialing the emergency number.

" _Have you seen any symptoms?_ " Not even a hello. He sighed.

"My nails have turned black."

" _Okay, please unlock your door and wait for police to arrive._ " There was a click and he put the phone down. He unlocked his door as instructed. He sat on his couch and turned on the TV. The cable in Britain had been restricted to one channel, the news. It replayed one message, and a new one was added everyday. He wasn't really listening to the lady talk, though. He was thinking about his friends, his family, his girlfriend. Were any of them still alive? Are any of them in captivity? Are they infected? He had no way of knowing, and it killed him inside.

He was kicked out of his thoughts by a loud knocking at his door. He turned of the TV. "It's unlocked."

The door opened to reveal a man in a suit with 2 police officers behind him. "Hello, Mr. Peasy. You've contracted the sickness, correct?"

Aaron wondered how exactly this man knew his name, but decided not to voice this. "Yeah. My nails have turned black."

The man in the suit was staring right at him. He didn't blink. He creeped Aaron out. "How long have they been like this?"

"What do you mean? I called as soon as I noticed."

"Mr. Peasy, we do not appreciate liars. The latest that symptom in particular shows is 2 weeks. If you have had physical contact with one of the originally infected, 1 week. We know you have been in contact with one of the originally infected, Joshua Bell. How long have you had this?"

Aaron cursed in his head. These guys saw through him like a piece of glass. "Fine. I noticed less than 3 days after Josh was brought to my home."

"Well, considering you are strong enough to walk around and talk without any issues, you are one of the more fortunate. Most people have to be sent to the hospital within 4 days of the initial symptom. Also, from your appearance, you haven't suffered multiple symptoms. This is where your luck runs out though. Even though you've contracted the mildest symptom, there is no guarantee it isn't fatal. We will tell you more at the facility." The man in the suit stepped back through the doorway and moved to the side. The policemen stepped inside. They moved so uniformly that they seemed to be robots. Aaron wouldn't be surprised if they were.

He got off of his couch and walked out of the doorway. Outside a standard police car was waiting for him. The policemen were standing right behind him, and when he didn't move, one of them shoved him with their baton. He turned to glare at the one that did it, and continued on to the car. He didn't fail to notice they left his door open. "Hey, suit dude, could you close my door?"

The man in the suit either failed to notice him, or ignored him, because he didn't close the door. There was someone in the front seat of the police car and Aaron wondered if that person would call to the suit guy. "Mate, would you call the guy in the suit near the door? My front door is open." Aaron half expected him not respond, but when he did he wasn't sure if he wouldn't've preferred the silence.

"It doesn't matter, kid. You're not coming back, and no one else is coming out."

 


	2. Welcome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to your new home.

The car ride was long and eerily silent. Aaron's mind kept going back to the words the driver said earlier. He already knew the chances of him being able to return were low, but 'no one else is coming out'? The way he said suggested that everyone else was gone... But that would be impossible. Not everyone was infected. They'd have no reason to take them away. There was an alternative, of course, but he didn't want to think about that. He didn't want to think about the fact that his neighbors were either dead or in the same place he was heading.

They'd arrived. The building was in the countryside, big and gray and unremarkable. It could be compared to a big block of cement. There were no windows, at least, not any with glass in them. Barred openings were scattered along the front of the building.

"Get out of the car. Approach the guards at the front and tell them what your symptom is. They'll lead you to your room. If you try to run, they will shoot you." The driver instructed him from the front of the car. Aaron felt the color drain from his face when he heard 'they will shoot you'. He wasn't even inside the building and he was afraid.

He opened up the door and stepped outside. The police car sped off immediately. There was a single set of double doors, exactly the same shade of gray as the wall. In front of them stood two guards. Around the gray building was woods. The woods surrounded the entire place, stretching as far down the road as he could see. The ground underneath him was a large slab of concrete. It looked newer and cleaner than any sidewalk he'd ever seen.

****He walked up to the doors slowly, trying to stop shaking. This place was giving off the same vibe he imagined a prison would. It certainly looked the part.

The guards didn't really acknowledge him when he walked up to them. They asked him the question the police car driver said they would, but they seemed detached. Like they were sleepwalking. One of the guards held the door open and the other one walked inside. Aaron followed him inside.

The interior looked duller than the outside, if that was even possible. The hallway they stepped into when they entered the building seemed to not end. It was so long he couldn't see the end. To the left and right of him, there were doors. Brown, unremarkable doors. Every so often, a barred window. It was deadly silent. The only noise was his and the guard's footsteps against the stone floor. As they continued down the corridor, his head started to pound. The pure repetition of the place was messing with him. Not a single thing was different. There weren't even number plates on the doors to help convince him they weren't just walking in a loop. An impossible loop.

The end of the corridor was drawing nearer. Or was it? There were little dots appearing in his vision. He was 99.9% sure he was going to pass out before the reached his room. His vision went black and he felt the sensation of fallin--

He woke up with a pounding headache. There was a bandage around his head and he was lying on something soft. He looked around and saw nothing but gray. _Where am I? When did I pass out? Why is there a bandage around my head?_ Then he noticed something he hadn't seen before. There was someone staring at him from the center of the room. _And who the fuck is that guy?_

"Ah, you're awake. You should probably stay in bed. I heard from the guard you fainted and hit your head pretty hard, Aaron."

"Who are you?" _And why do you know my name?_

"Don't tell me you got amnesia. I'm Josh remember? I know you haven't seen me in a while, but jeez."

"Josh..." Aaron thought as much as he could without agitating his headache. "As in Joshua Bell?"

"That's my name, don't wear it out."

"Where are we? I don't really remember how--" Suddenly Josh started to cough, interrupting Aaron. He sounded terrible. When he stopped, Aaron noticed there was blood on his arm.

"Sorry about that. I can't control when the coughing starts, but I guess you knew that already. I'm gonna clean myself up, I'll be back." He walked through another door that Aaron hadn't noticed before because of how well it blended into the wall.

_He was coughing up blood... That's the second worse symptom. Poor Josh..._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is considerably shorter than the first one. 'Bout 100 words shorter. I don't know how to feel about that, considering a literally wrote this in an hour.


	3. Solutions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What a stupid thing to have to solve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i forgot to mention that you can also find this on wattpad if thats more your style

 When Josh returned from what Aaron presumed to be the bathroom, there was silence. Aaron was avoiding looking at him for fear he may try to start a conversation again. Even so, he had too many questions that needed to be answered. How was he even going to approach the subject? It's not like he could up and blurt out his questions. Josh eventually spoke up, postponing Aaron's mental struggle.

"You've probably got some questions about this place yeah?"

"I wasn't going to ask because I--"

"You didn't want to make it awkward right? Don't worry, I've been in this place long enough for it to not bother me anymore. The silence." Aaron let his eyes wander over to Josh. He looked completely fine, not at all unhealthy. He was even smiling. _How can he seem so happy in a situation like this? I can't imagine how much pain he must be in._

"Do you know anything about the guards?"

"I know that they're people who have contracted an illness that is similar to the one we all have. The one they have isn't fatal, and symptoms last for a week."

"How'd you know that?"

"Well, the officials around here don't exactly watch what they say around us, considering our fate."

"... Oh. What about the rest of the people here?"

"You've probably noticed that this room looks like it's only made for one person. That's because it _is_ only made for one person. They told all of the originals that the reason was because they didn't know if people could catch more symptoms from being around others who had different ones. It was bullshit, obviously... How would you get the same sickness twice?

"Anyway, no contact of any kind is allowed. The only people who even come near us really are the guards because they're immune. The only reason why you're in here with me is because you passed out. Good news though, I'm pretty sure they don't care enough to move you to your room. I'm happy, 'cause I was starting to lose it in here, being by myself all the time..." For as split second, Aaron saw something that seemed a lot like the look of someone who'd given up flash across Josh's face. Then it was back to normal. "Nevermind that. Anymore questions?"

"No." Aaron thought for a minute. "Actually I do have another question. What are we gonna do about sleeping arrangements? The floor's got nothing on it, and this place doesn't seem to have any heating."

"Good question. Well, there's towels in the bathroom, and push comes to shove we could just share the bed."

"Alright. What exactly do you do to occupy yourself around here?"

"As you can see, there isn't much to do around here. I've been spending most of my time sleeping and coughing. There's nothing that you can do to keep your mind off the situation at hand when you're by yourself. I've thought off a couple other things to do however, so don't despair! You could take a bath and fall asleep, or take some of the soap in there and carve it, although I still don't know what to use for carving."

"I'll take a look around."

Aaron got out of bed and continued to the bathroom, feeling around the wall where he remembered the near invisible door was. He found the door and pushed it. It swung open into a gray room smaller than the main room. Inside was a small bath tub with a shower head above it. It was against the wall and there were no curtains to be seen. On the wall opposite from the bathtub was a toilet with a bunch of toilet paper rolls next to it. He counted near 20 of them. Lastly, he saw the sink, which was directly opposite from the door. There was a rectangular mirror attached to the wall above it and a towel rack with 3 towels on it next to it. Everything in the room was gray. When Aaron turned one of the knobs on the sink, even the water looked like it had a grayish tint to it. He winced as he heard Josh coughing in the other room.

 _Well, I guess I better look around for something that can be used for carving._ Aaron could see from the doorway that there were no objects in the room that even looked sharp, but he was going to search anyway. _Worse case scenario, we could just break the mirror._

After searching the area from top to bottom, he found a grand total of nothing except for cracks in the walls and more soap. _Time to break the mirror. I hope Josh won't be mad. It's not like that thing serves any real purpose, anyway._ He picked up a bar of soap and threw it at the mirror. It cracked but didn't shatter like he was hoping it would. "What was that? Aaron, are you okay?"

"Fine!" He wasn't going to be if glass shards went towards him when the mirror shattered. With this in mind, he threw another soap bar and dove to the ground. Thankfully, the glass went to the ground instead to his face, so he was unharmed. However, falling glass isn't exactly the quietest thing.

Josh heard another thud and the sound of someone falling and came running into the bathroom. What he saw however, confused him to no end. Aaron was on the floor with his hands over his head. There were two soap bars in the sink. There was glass all over the floor and no mirror where there was supposed to be one. "What did you do?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got more background on the current situation bc it'll never come up in the story:
> 
> -Leni, Aaron's girlfriend, still lives in Germany for the sake of my sanity. She has tried to come in contact with Aaron many times, but due to the UK cutting itself off from the rest of the world, she hasn't been able to connect.
> 
> -Danni's not in the story either, she was out of country when it happened and isn't aware of the current situation. She's taking a road-trip to (insert far away country here) and hasn't had time to check the news and find out that the UK closed its borders.
> 
> -Josh was kidnapped by the evil scientists while on his way to Aaron's house. :)


	4. Locks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are no locks on these doors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> get ready we're getting semi serious

 After they cleaned up the glass from the mirror, they started to carve the soap bars. The glass they didn't use was in a pile in the corner so no one hurt themselves on it. They had never carved anything before, and were as bad as to be expected.

"Ouch!" Aaron looked up from his now haphazardly shaped soap bar. Josh was bleeding. He had cut himself with the glass.

"Are you serious? You've managed to not cut yourself this entire time, but you do now."

Josh laughed sheepishly and walked over to the bathroom. Apparently there were bandages in there, somewhere Aaron didn't see. _Probably another one of those camo doors,_ he thought. He tried to refocus on his terrible carving, but couldn't for some reason. He hadn't been there a day, yet he already wanted to leave. It's not like there was much compelling him to stay. He tested the doors earlier and found that they weren't even locked. What was the point of putting them in here if they could escape so easily?

Josh returned from the bathroom only to find Aaron staring down his soap bar. He hadn't even noticed Josh reenter the room. "Umm, Earth to Aaron?"

Aaron jumped up and turned around to face Josh. "Oh, it's just you."

"Were you expecting someone else?"

"No, I was just thinking about something."

"Like what?"

There was a brief period of silence."Have you ever thought about escaping?"

That sad look was there again."Of course. Everyone has."

"So why not try? It's not like they're attempting to keep us in."

"It's just..."

"What? What's keeping you from doing it? Is something here? Did they do something to you?"

"No! I..." Josh was doing his best to avoid Aaron's gaze.

" _What?_ "

"What about the people on the outside? Sure, we could probably make an escape plan, and if we were fast enough we would escape, but we're still sick. All of us. Believe it or not, there's nothing out there for us. At the very best, we'll infect our loved ones. Plus they closed the borders. We can't leave the country. And why would we? We'd only spread the disease. It's just better for us to stay here."

"But it's not our fault we're this way!"

"You need to face the facts Aaron. Not only would they catch us because we can't leave the country, we wouldn't be doing any good leaving."

"What are you trying to say?"

"It'd be better for everyone if we died here."

"How can you say that? What about everyone else?"

"What about them? We both know that the Wills are infected too. They came to see me at the hospital, remember? They're in this place just like we are."

"You can't be serious."

"I'm perfectly serious." He looked up from the ground. "Get a grip. Do you know how long I've been in here? Alone? I know how you feel. I want to go outside too, but we can't be selfish like that. Going outside isn't going to fix anything. It's not gonna cure us, it's not gonna make this entire thing disappear."

The silence that followed was deafening. "...I guess now I know why they don't put locks on the doors."

The next morning was quiet. Someone opened the door to place two food trays on the ground and then left. Josh walked over to the trays and picked one up. Aaron didn't react to the bowl of cereal on the tray, but Josh placed it in front of him anyway. "You better eat. The next meal isn't until noon, and who knows what time it is. Must be pretty early though, considering we were awake when they brought the trays." Aaron looked up at him, then down out at the bowl of cereal. It was a bowl of something orange and brown. Or was that yellow? He couldn't really tell.

"Reese's Puffs. It's pretty good. They serve different cereal everyday."

Aaron picked up the cereal bowl. They ate in silence. The tension could be cut with a knife. "Hey look, I'm sorry about my outburst yesterday. It's just you bringing it up made me remember how much I hate this place. You know, being surrounded by nothing but gray walls and silence is very emotionally taxing."

"...How did you stand it?"

"Well, I simply thought of the outside. Ironic, right? The thought that we could all just go outside and have a small party or something, forget that we're all sick, was my little ray of light."

"Oh." And they kept eating.


	5. Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's not fun and games anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its about to go down

 Days passed in the gray building. Aaron and Josh improved their carving skills. The days blended together between meals and small talk with Josh. Aaron often thought about leaving their room to find the Wills. Each time he spoke up, Josh shut him down with legitimate reasons why this would be a bad idea.

Josh's cough was steadily getting worse. When Aaron confronted him on it, he constantly said "I'm fine, I'm fine." It was getting colder outside and so was the building. Aaron snuck out of the room while Josh was sleeping. He was caught by a guard and sent back to his room. Josh was woken up by the commotion and only stared at him when Aaron walked back into the room. They didn't speak to each other at all the next day.

The next time Aaron woke up, he was cold. As he took in his surroundings, it dawned on him that Josh wasn't there. He sat up from the bed and looked around. There was blood splattered on the walls, and a trail leading to the bathroom. The sound of coughing was coming from that direction. Aaron got out of the bed and walked towards the bathroom door. "Josh?" The coughing paused for a moment and Aaron opened the door.

Josh was bent over the sink, the grey covered in red. Josh was covering his mouth with his hand, but it wasn't doing much good. Blood dripped from it into the sink, emitting a small _splat_. "Oh god..." Aaron rushed to his side.

Despite being drenched in his own blood, Josh still managed to smile at Aaron. "Morning, sorry you had to see me li--" He was interrupted by his own coughing. The sound was sickening, and Aaron felt nauseous. He turned on the sink and grabbed one of the towels from the towel rack. He wet the towel and tried to clean up Josh. _He's losing too much blood!_

Then without any warning, Josh started to fall. Aaron caught him before he hit the floor, but Josh was heavy. He was starting to lose his grip. Almost as soon as he felt Josh slip out of his grip did he throw down the blood soaked towel. Josh landed it on it and groaned in his fitful sleep. It wasn't the softest landing, but it was better than landing directly on the concrete. He pulled the towel across the bathroom into the main room, and with the last of his strength hoisted Josh up onto the bed.

It was then that Aaron took the time to assess the situation. Josh must've woken up coughing, and made his way to the bathroom. But the sink was covered in blood. How long had he been in there? And the walls... What had he been doing?

For now, Aaron decide to put his focus into taking care of Josh. He'd lost a deadly amount of blood, and he was going to be asleep for a long time. It was up to him to make sure he didn't die before he woke up. Or ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was super short but i feel like something important happened


	6. Awaken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You should've stayed asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh yeah this one's gonna be pretty bloody so if you think you might throw up id advise not reading this you arent missing anything but aaron not being able to deal with joshs problems

Josh had been drifting in and out of sleep for a week. Aaron shook him awake to give him water, and when he woke up Aaron held some small hope he would stay awake, but he didn't. Aaron was desolate in the cell, barely touching the food trays that were stacking up. The people who worked there wouldn't take the trays if the food wasn't eaten. The only time he moved from his permanent spot on the floor next to Josh's bed was to get water for Josh.

The door opened and another set of trays was placed on the floor. It was noon, so they gave out sandwiches and water. Fresh water. Aaron learned a while ago that the water that came out of the taps was for cleaning purposes only and it was purified to fit that purpose. If he gave any of that to Josh he'd probably die from some sort of contagion, other than the obvious one.

He picked up one of the glasses of water from the trays. Josh was having a peaceful sleep for once. He knew Josh had to be close to starving, but he remembered that someone could last longer without any food rather than water. He was just going to have to deal with no food until he woke up.

Aaron contemplated how long he'd been in this place. It had been almost a month. He thought back to when he was first brought here. _That's right, they never did tell me if my symptom was fatal or not. I guess I know I have a higher life expectancy that others though, considering it's been about 2 months since I contracted this._ _There's no guarantee that I'll actually survive though._

He returned to his spot on the floor. _Maybe I should look for William and Will again. But I can't leave Josh alone. But maybe they could help. What if their conditions are worse than mine? Or, god forbid, worse than Josh's? If one of them had the eye symptom, they are probably already dead. But even still, I can't just give up, what if both of them are alive? What if-_ Aaron heard a groan coming from above him. He shot up and turned his full attention to Josh.

Josh was stirring in his sleep. He rolled around on the bed, groaning. Aaron panicked slightly. _He looks like he's in pain. What do I do?_ He decided to shake him awake. "Wake up," he tried to keep his voice level. If Josh woke up to him panicking, he'll probably panic too.

Josh's eyes opened slowly. He didn't say anything or move, he just looked around.When his eyes landed on Aaron, they seemed to be clouded over. Josh opened his mouth to speak, but instead of words coming out, blood did. Aaron's eyes widened and he pulled him out of bed as gently as he could. Josh almost flopped over onto the floor, but he regained balance quickly enough to avoid a faceplant. Any other time Aaron would be laughing, but right now he was worried. _What if he starts to cough up blood again?_ With this thought in mind, he lead Josh over to the bathroom.  
He opened the door to the bathroom and helped Josh stumble in. They headed over to the toilet, where Josh proceeded to throw up blood. Aaron was starting to understand why there was blood everywhere on that particular morning.   
Aaron tried to bring him to the sink to wash his face off (and his clothes. The blood was everywhere.) but he stumbled when Josh suddenly put all of his weight on him. Aaron had to drag Josh the short distance from the toilet to the sink. Josh had fainted again. Aaron laid him down on the cold floor as gently as he could.  He needed to clean him up, and that wasn't going to happen if he was carrying him.  
Aaron grabbed one of the towels that didn't have dried blood on it and wetted it on the sink. He squeezed the water out and shook the towel off. He used it took wipe off Josh's face and after some internal debate, removed his shirt so he could clean the blood on his chest.   
He carried Josh back to the bed and did the best he could to make him comfortable. He sighed. There was blood on his shirt and arms. He sat down and took a bite of stale bread from one of the trays in the food pile. _We can't keep doing this. I have to do something, and fast. Otherwise... I don't even want to think about what'll happen._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> josh throwing up blood made a bit nauseous when i reread this i realized just how nasty that was


	7. Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unexpected but welcome face shows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg someone other than josh and aaron???? i know i cant believe it either

Aaron looked at Josh, then the door. He did it again. And again. _Argh! What do I do? I could go find Will and William, but what about Josh? Plus, this is just assuming that they're still alive! I don't even know where their rooms are! I can't look for them! That would be irresponsible of me, right? Yeah._ But even as he came to this conclusion, he still felt the need to leave the room.

Josh was asleep. Deeply asleep. Aaron wasn't sure if he'd ever wake up. He increasingly worried about the fact that Josh hadn't eaten anything for a good two weeks. He was looking paler and paler every day.

The room was getting colder. Aaron was freezing in the clothes he'd been wearing since he got here, a t-shirt and jeans. He imagined it to be warmer under the thin sheets of the mattress where Josh was, but probably not by much. The concrete floors of the room weren't all that comfortable either, no matter how many blood stained towels and bars of soap he stacked up for a makeshift mattress. He was starting to lose any hope of this situation getting better. He couldn't think of anyway to improve it, let alone end it.  
Aaron spent days repeatedly debating what he should do. In the end, he decided that, he had to face the facts, but like Josh and told him. The chances that Josh was going to wake up were getting slimmer every day, and he was most likely wasting time by sitting here watching him die. It bothered Aaron to be so blunt, by there wasn't any other way to put it. Josh was dying, and there was nothing he could do about it.  
Aaron left the room for the second time he'd arrived on a particularly cold night. The gray halls were empty, and most of the lights were off. The hallway was almost completely submerged in darkness. Other than that, they looked identical to what he saw when he first got there. Same seemingly endless line of identical doors, with no markings whatsoever. This made Aaron wonder. _How will I find this room again if all these doors look the same?_ He got a soap bar from his makeshift mattress and placed it in the doorway. Hopefully none of the guards would pick it up if he wasn't back by morning.  
He spent hours wandering the hallways. He didn't faint like he did before, but the effect of never ending sameness was still dizzying. He had to rest often in order to not fall over.  
He often stopped at doors where he heard noise, some kind of indication that someone was alive. He saw people sobbing more often than he'd like to admit. Once he saw something vaguely disturbing. There was someone who had been writing on the walls 's in blood, presumably their own. It said 'help' in big, red letters. Aaron entered farther in the room to investigate. He didn't smell anything out of place, nor did he see anything. However, once he went into the bathroom, he saw what had become of the person. They were sprawled out on the floor, lying on their stomach. Their arms and back looked like someone had taken a knife to them. The skin was completely separated, in little square pieces. It looked like an earthquake had happened on their back. The floor was covered in blood. From the assorted marks and streaks, Aaron deduced that the person had been crawling around on the floor before they came to rest in the middle. Aaron wasn't sure if they were dead or not. They certainly weren't moving. Aaron decided not to find out as he quickly exited the room to keep from losing the little meal he had.  
_This search is hopeless,_ he thought when he exited the room. _Why did I think this was a good idea? There's no way I can find them, no way in this giant building. Everything looks the same. I can't even tell if I'm going anywhere._ Aaron slumped against the door of the room. He put his head in his hands. _I've got to go back. I don't where the exit is, so I couldn't escape, even if I wanted to. Hell, what was I thinking? This place might as well be a fucking maze._ He scoffed. _Right, leave it to me to do do something stupid. Whatever, I'll just go back to Josh. He needs me, he's sick._ Something in him said ' _You're sick too,_ ' but he ignored it. He got up and walked back down the hallway, back the way as he came.  
He'd been walking for a while when someone else crossed his path. Aaron's first instinct was to run, but he held himself in place to see who it was. Guards weren't that slow, and they didn't stop when they saw someone else. "Who's there?" a weak voice called out.  
"Depends on who's asking," Aaron responded. Silence. The stranger shifted slightly.  
"... Is that Aaron?" Aaron froze. How did this person know his name?  
"Maybe." Another brief silence. The person stepped closer to Aaron.  
"Do you not recognize me?"  
"I can't see you. You're not standing in the light." The person moved forward into the light. Aaron squinted. It was... William! _What's he doing here?_  
"It's William. Remember me?"  
"Yeah, of course I remember you! How could I forget..." Aaron trailed off. With a closer look, he saw that William's hands were covered in blood and he was shaking. "What happened?"  
"Oh, nothing much. I'm just in bad shape, is all. You kinda caught me at a bad time. A _really_ bad time."  
"Which sickness do you have?"  
"Skin breakage." Aaron could barely hear him. He thought back to the person lying in the floor, their back covered in blood and broken skin... He gagged.  
"I'm so sorry," he forced out.  
"Yeah, so am I. Hurts a lot. Anyway, what about you? You're drenched in blood."  
Aaron had forgotten about that. "Um, how to explain this. When I first got here, I kind of fainted and was taken to Josh's room in some weird twist of fate. He coughs up blood and he got some on me."  
"Looks like he got more than just some. None of that's yours?"  
"No. My nails turned black. No blood to be found from me." _Not yet._  
"I guess that's good. So, how's Josh?"  
"Not good." Their conversation came to a standstill after that. Aaron's tone clearly said that he didn't want to give any more detail than that and William had no more questions. Then something occurred to Aaron. "Have you seen Will?"  
William looked surprised. "Will? Why do you ask about him all of a sudden?"  
"Just curious."  
"Will... died. Before we got here." The hesitance in his voice was clear. Aaron's hand went up to his mouth.  
"I didn't know..." he whispered. But of course, he'd known that this was always a possibility. That one of them was dead, that there was no way of knowing. But despite all the thinking he did, he never bothered to consider the fact that one of them was actually dead.  
"It's okay, it's okay. You couldn't've known." William sighed sharply. "His eyes turned light green. He was dead a week after the announcement to stay inside went out." He added quietly, "I watched him die."  
Aaron was struck into silence. A week... That meant that Will died less than 5 days after seeing Josh at the hospital. And he had the worst symptom... Aaron wanted to throw up. This was too much to take in. Will was dead. Dead. He'd been dead for a weeks, months, now. And he didn't know. Josh doesn't know. Josh might die. He can't let Josh die. No. No more deaths. Josh can't die. Aaron didn't know what he would do if he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> will kicked the bucket ha i love writing this


	8. Argument

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To go out outside or to not go outside, that is the question.

 After that William accompanied him in his aimless walk around the complex. Aaron wasn't sure where he was going or what he was doing, considering there was nothing to look for anymore. Will was... not there and the only thing still waiting for him in this facility was Josh. And Josh was...

Aaron was pulled out of his thoughts by William grabbing his shoulder. "Hey. Isn't that the door you said you put a soap bar in?" Aaron looked to where William was pointing and sure enough, the soap bar was there. He wasn't sure how to feel about this, but he led William inside anyway.

Inside the room, nothing had changed. Josh was still sprawled out on the bed after Aaron had practically dragged him there hours ago, the pile of food trays filled with uneaten food was still there, along with Aaron's makeshift towel and soap bar mattress and the pile of glass shards. The walls were still covered in blood, though now instead of a dark red the blood looked more brown. Aaron did note that Josh seemed to be sleeping more soundly than he was before he left.

Aaron watched as William walked around the room, first to Josh, then the pile of food, then the mattress of soap and towels. He looked slightly horrified. "What happened in here?"

Aaron stared at him for a second. William's sleeves had rolled up while he was picking things up and looking around. Aaron saw that Williams arms were covered in blister-like _things_ that seemed to be the source of the blood on his hands and arms. Josh's was like that, except it came from his mouth. How could William be so horrified?

Aaron kept his thoughts to himself and answered William's question. "A couple of days ago" _—Or was it weeks? I can't remember_ — "I woke up to find Josh in the bathroom coughing up blood. I don't know exactly what happened while I was asleep, but I think he got all the blood on the walls while he was trying to get to the bathroom. After Josh fainted I spent a long time in here not really doing anything, just thinking. I didn't eat often, hence the pile of food trays. The floor is uncomfortable, so I tried to make a mattress out of soap bars and towels. The towels are bloody from when I cleaned the blood off of Josh." Recounting the events that had happened made Aaron want to throw up. He didn't want to remember all of the blood. William looked lost. Josh stirred on the bed and he coughed before stilling again.

William's eyes turned to Josh. "I-is he gonna be okay?"

Aaron couldn't bring himself to look at anything other than the floor. "I don't know."

"Aaron..." William said sadly. "We should leave."

"No."

"Why?"

"There's no point. There's nothing out there, nothing for people like us."

"You don't know that! Not for sure," William argued. "We could try and find out what this... _thing_ that has infected us is, at the very least, a name. Why isn't the government telling anyone anything? We have to try and find some answer Aaron." Aaron was silent, but he looked up from the floor at William. William continued. "We deserve answers. They can't just lock everyone in the UK up in these stupid gray buildings living on the bare necessities until we inevitably die. I was thinking about it before, but with Will gone it was only me. I didn't know if I could do it. It was too risky for just me, especially when I'm so injured. But now you're here, and you're mostly healthy, right?"

"I guess. I haven't exactly had the best diet lately."

"That's okay. We both need some recovery time. Seems like you need a proper meal more, though."

"You're talking about leaving, which is all fine and good, but what about Josh? We wouldn't be able to take him with us even if we did decide to go. We can't just leave him here, either."

"We'll come back for him—"

"No! Absolutely not. I won't leave him in this place to die."

"Aaron, I know how you feel—"

"No you don't!" Aaron hissed. "You don't know anything. Will died early on. Even if his death wasn't painless, it was fast. Josh is suffering. I don't know how long he has left, but I know time is ticking away slowly. Very slowly. I don't care about this stupid disease we carry, I don't want any answers, I don't want to go outside. There's nothing to do out there. The UK's borders are closed. We aren't international spies. We can't sneak out. Even if we could, all we we would end up doing is infecting the entire world." William stared at Aaron in surprise and slight hurt. Aaron averted his eyes for the upteenth time. "Sorry. I just want this to be over."

William still looked upset, but he nodded and didn't say anything else. Aaron put his head in his hands. He didn't mean to have such a violent outburst like that. William didn't do anything wrong. He was just trying to stay hopeful. It disturbed him to notice how similar what he said was to what Josh had said to him earlier. He remembered how he had responded to Josh's reasoning: ' _I guess now I know why they don't put locks on the doors._ ' _Ha,_ he thought, _how the tables have turned._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its getting good too bad thats the end of preposted chapters now you have to wait


	9. announcement

okay so, if im going to be perfectly honest, i lost interest in continuing this a long while ago. like, back when i transitioned from wattpad to here. the only reason why i tried to keep writing this was because i felt a sort of obligation too. i mean, in terms of fanworks, the crew fandom is dead. youll see the occasional thing on twitter, maybe a new fanfic every once in awhile, but compared to other fandoms our size or smaller, inactive is the only word i can think of to describe this. i just felt like i could help provide content for the fandom considering there is practically nothing else. maybe that feeling was just a product of my inflated self importance. the fandom is obviously getting along fine even with the lack of content outside of videos, and its not like there were even a ton of people who read this anyway. not to say that i dont appreciate the people who  _do_ read my stuff, its just that the lack of viewership is more than a little discouraging. i dont know if its because the quality of my writing is low, or if its because the amount of people on ao3 reading crew fanfiction is low. but i digress.

im going to orphan this instead of deleting it. now this is my first time doing this so im not sure what orphaning entails exactly, but if it works like i think it does then there shouldnt be a problem. thanks for reading.


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